Glossary

Leopold Page describes an act of sabotage and clandestinely listening to radio broadcasts while in Bruennlitz

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Oral History

Leopold Page describes an act of sabotage and clandestinely listening to radio broadcasts while in Bruennlitz

Leopold was a teacher in Krakow, Poland, when World War II began in 1939. While serving in the Polish army, he was captured by Germans. Leopold escaped from a prisoner-of-war transport. Soon after, he met the German industrialist Oskar Schindler. The two became friends. Leopold was forced to live in the Krakow ghetto. He later worked in Schindler's factory in Bruennlitz. He and the other Jews who worked there were treated relatively well and protected from the Nazis. After the war, Leopold moved to the United States.

Transcript

I was a welder. What I did? I have to weld certain parts of the machinery, so I opened the, the bottle with the gas overnight, very little. In the morning was no gas. So I could report that we don't have a gas, I cannot do the job. So they got me another bottle. Couple of days happened to the other bottle. So we couldn't finish it. I said, "It's not my fault that they're putting wrong gauges on the machine. I don't do anything. I try to work, and then I cannot do it." Well, we were doing some little job, but this was a little type sabotage. Then Schindler give me and the other man, Mr. Mandel, a little radio. Supposed to be, we supposed to fix the radio. But we always fix the radio only about one o'clock in the morning, when we have a night shift, to listen to BBC to find out how it's going on. And every, in the morning, there were a little information on a piece of paper in every barrack, in every room, what is going on, how close the Germans, and what is happening. And this, our radio mechanic was doing with us together. And it was very interesting. We knew exactly what is going on.